Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Trumped

It's hardly the auspicious moment Mitt Romney envisioned when he set out to win the Republican nomination.

With his victory in the Texas primary, Our Man Myth finally secured the prize that he had to wrestle away from a cast of characters like Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. He has already shifted into Etch a Sketch mode and polls suggest a tightening of his race with Barack Obama.

Let's deal first with Adelson, the man who singlehandedly propped up Newt Gingrich. There's nothing inherently problematic with the Las Vegas mogul with Dorchester roots -- other than his desire to buy the White House with his millions. Or the fact he and his wife pumped $20 million into a loose cannon in the hopes of owning a president.

What should raise serious questions about Romney's seriousness is his continued flirtations with Donald Trump, a self-serving dilettante who has the ability to embarrass at the drop of a hat. Which he did to Romney through his continued pandering to the unhinged birther movement.

In case you missed it, Trump chose Romney's big day to try and reopen a controversy he took credit for closing when he claimed to be the reason Barack Obama authorized the state of Hawaii to release his long form birth certificate.

Now, The Donald is back pedaling -- and Myth is standing silent.

“A lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate,” Mr.
Trump said in a combative interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN. “Now, you
won’t report it, Wolf, but many people do not think it was authentic.”

Romney, as usual, tried to take what he thought was the high road but in reality serves only to mollify the right wing fringe he must keep happy in order to win the White House.

“You know, I don’t agree with all the people who support me, and my
guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in,” he told
reporters. “But I need to get 50.1 percent or more, and I’m appreciative
to have the help of a lot of good people.”

The continued attack on Obama's heritage -- along with Scott Brown's questions about Elizabeth Warren's Cherokee roots -- suggests the nativist element of the conservative movement is still alive and well. And that the GOP candidates are so uncertain of their own policies and promises -- that pandering to fear remains a key tool in their electoral arsenals.

After all, it's hard to back policies that caused the Great Recession as a tool to get the nation out of those doldrums. Appealing to baser instincts is surely the path of least resistance, which is why neither Romney nor Brown are willing to give it up any time soon.